19 February 2011

Today has been a mixed day. NASCAR is back in full swing, but today's race meant Danica time, and I wasn't that thrilled with most of the Top Five finishers, with the lone exception being the guy who is now the Nationwide points leader.

Mom started working a doll fair today. It's a three-day fair where everyone who has a table is selling something to do with dolls. As most of you know, she makes American Girl doll clothes and accessories (the accessories are mostly doll bed sheets since AG sells doll bed, but no sheets. Poor dolls!). She called me from the fair, which was odd, so I ran to the phone. (If you've ever been with me when Mom calls, you know she has a rather special ringtone.) She asked if I remembered when I was in school. Now, think about this for a second. Is this anything that most people in their mid-30s who haven't suffered brain damage have forgotten?

Me: Uh, yes.
Mom: Do you remember being in [the gifted programme I was in.]
Me: Yes, Mother.
Mom: Do you remember Mrs. Tennison?
Me: Uh-huh.
Mom: Well, she's here.
Me: Mrs. Tennison is there? Oh, wow! I remember her! She was mean!
Mom: She was???
Me: Yeah. Well, not mean, just, you know... not the warm fuzzy type.
Mom: Do you want to talk to her?
Me: Let me make sure I have the right person. Is she kind of short and overweight? And black hair? And glasses? And a big nose? with a mole?
Mom: I don't see a mole. But maybe it got cancerous and she had it removed.

Anyway, I got to talk to Mrs. Tennison for about ten minutes, and it was really lovely. I didn't ask her about her mole, though. That seemed rude. She told me when I came back to town, I should look her up in the phone book and come visit her. I just might. I really enjoyed her class, and [the gifted programme] was always a respite from the rest of the school.

We were bussed to [the gifted programme] every Wednesday (each school in the district went on different days). It was a special programme where we didn't do regular classes. We got to do Logic (instead of Maths) and play with these things called computers (this WAS the mid-80s, remember) and had Creative Writing (instead of English) and every one else was either a nerd or a geek, too. Going back to my regular school on Thursday was SUCH a letdown.